THREE

COORDINATIONAim of this unit: to define coordination in English, to offer a description of the various instances of coordination

Objectives: to offer students a guide on how to correctly formulate coordinated sentences in English

Contents:3.1.Syndetic and Asyndetic Coordination

3.2.Coordination and Subordination

3.3.Sentence and Phrase Coordination

3.4.Coordinating Conjunctions

3.5.Verb Agreement with Compound Sentences

3.6.Key Concepts

3.1 Syndetic vs. Asyndetic CoordinationBefore we proceed to discuss the notion of coordination, some comment is in order: the term coordination is going to be used mainly in relation to what some grammarians call syndetic coordination, i.e. that type of structure where there are explicit indicators that there are two more elements linked by coordination. This type is placed in opposition to asyndetic coordination, where there is no indication other than a comma, that elements are coordinated. Consider example

(1) He looked at them sadly and reproachfully.

(S-a uitat la ei cu tristete si repros.)

which is an instance of syndetic coordination.

Example (2), on the other hand, is an illustration of the asyndetic type:

(2) He looked at them sadly, reproachfully.

(S-a uitat la ei cu tristete, cu repros.)

Example (1) exhibits coordination by means of and, which is a coordinating conjunction or a coordinator. The terms linked by the coordinator are called conjuncts.

We will use the term coordination in reference to the first type mentioned above, where a coordinator is overtly expressed (i.e. present) in the sentence.

3.2.Coordination & Subordination

By definition, coordination (or conjoining) is a syntactic operation that puts together constituents of the same rank. Conversely, subordination (or Embedding) is a syntactic operation that involves rank-shifting, namely one constituent is subordinated to a higher-rank constituent.

Consider the following examples where one can look at the same situation expressed differently from a syntactic point of view:

(3) Hit my wife and youll die.

(O lovesti pe sotia mea si vei muri.)

(4) If you hit my wife, you will die.

(Daca o lovesti pe sotia mea, vei muri.)

Such examples, that have a lot in common from a semantic point of view, led grammarians to believe that coordination is the basic structure wherefrom subordination originated. Example (3) is an instance of coordination where constituents of the same rank are linked by means of the coordinating conjunction and. In example (4) one can notice a more complex structure, where the subordinating conjunction if plays a major part. We will come back to example (3) in a subsequent subsection.

From the previously mentioned examples, we can already make at least two important remarks:

a) that from a formal point of view, coordination differs from subordination in that it is realized by means of coordinating conjunctions.

b) that there might be important semantic similarities related to examples exhibiting coordinated, respectively subordinated constituents.

However, we need to specify that, from a logical & semantic point of view, a major difference between coordination and subordination is that the information in subordinate clauses is not asserted, but presupposed.

Compare:

(5) John came back and gave her a piece of his mind.

(John s-a intors si i-a spus vreo doua.)

(6) John gave her a piece of his mind after he came back.

(John i-a zis vreo doua dupa ce s-a intors.)

Unlike in the case of (5) where we are dealing with assertion, the subordinate adverbial clause of time contains a presupposition: We presuppose that the event of Johns coming back happened.

c) from a pragmatic point of view it is to be remarked that example (3) will be found more frequently in instances of dialogue and spoken language as it is obviously characterized by a rather informal tone.

Activity 1 Coordination and styleThe following two passages are straightforward descriptive paragraphs taken from narrative works. The first is a vivid description of a sequence of actions; the second, a static description of a small town in nineteenth-century Ireland. The student will notice the almost complete absence of subordinate clauses from both passages. In the first, this adds to the graphic effect of the movement in the passage. In the second, the comparative looseness of the sentence construction is admirably suited to the evocative informality of description.

Passage 1:

The black cloud had crossed the sky, a blob of dark against the stars: The night was quiet again, Tom stopped into the water and felt the bottom drop from under his feet. He threshed the two strokes across the ditch and pulled himself heavily up the other bank. His clothes hung to him. He moved and made a slopping noise; his shoes squished. Then he sat down, took off his shoes and emptied them. He wrung the bottom of his trousers, took off his coat and emptied them. He wrung the bottoms of his trousers, took off his coat and squeezed the water from it.

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of WrathReconstruct the paragraph, combining as many of the simple sentences as you feel reasonable into compound sentences with subordinate clauses. How does the effect of your passage differ from Steinbecks?

Passage 2:

Castlebar had preserved the appearance of a feudal town. Though the castle had vanished, on its site fortifications still frowned above steep and narrow streets, the houses were beautiful and ancient, built, with enormous solidity, of cut gray stone, adorned with cornices, stone-wreathed windows and carved doorways. In the late eighteenth century a Mall had been added to the town, with formal walks under rows of trees, but the streets tailed off abruptly into mud cabins, curlews wheeled and cried in the centre of the town, and the walkers in the Mall had bare feet.

Cecil Woocham Smith, The Reason WhyCompare the previous two passages with the following in point of complexity of structure and formality of tone. Note that the more intricate construction of the third passage is correlated by the author to the difficult journey the character in the passage has to make:

Passage 3

The Canon dressed and, waving the remonstrances of his housekeeper aside, left the house. Before him was a climb that would take at least three hours, over some of the roughest ground in the country. He walked up to the top of the village street and struck off up a boreen that went for a bit and then petered out as if discouraged. After that he had to make do with the narrow rocky footpath when he could see it or stumble a while over the tangled scrub and sharp stones till he found it again. The unwonted exercise made his heart pound and his head swim, and his clothes stuck damply to him: darkness fell before he was half-way up and although he had a torch the way in front was so strange and featureless he thought he should never arrive at his goal. His feet pained him from continually stubbing against the bits of rock: in spite of the long dry spell the mountain was soaking, and as the way is with Irish mountains, the higher he went the wetter it grew, until he found the water gurgling about his ankles and seeping over the top of his boots; and more than once he missed his footing and measured his length on the prickly ground.

Honor Tracy The Straight and Narrow Path

3.3 Sentence vs. Phrase Coordination

Compare the following sentences:

(7) I saw him yesterday and I had seen him the day before yesterday.

(L-am vazut ieri si l-am vazut si alaltaieri.)

(8) I saw him yesterday and the day before yesterday.

(L-am vazut ieri si alaltaieri.)

Example (7) is an instance of sentence coordination, the result of which is a COMPOUND SENTENCE. A compound sentence is to be placed in opposition to a COMPLEX SENTENCE, where there is a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses, as shown in (9).

(9) If the authors and publishers of Dick Deadshot and such remarkable works were suddenly to make a raid on the educated class, were to take down the name of every man, however distinguished, who was caught at a University Extension lecture, were to confiscate all our novels and warn us to correct all our lives, we should be seriously annoyed.

(G.K. Chesterton A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls )

Example (8) exhibits an instance of Phrasal Coordination, where we are dealing with a compound constituent, yesterday and the day before yesterday.

As one can easily notice, this constituent can be considered to be the result of compressing the longer and much less economical compound sentence from example (7). This phenomenon of compression and reduction is called ellipsis.

Activity 2: Distinguish between sentence coordination and phrasal coordination; argue that both are basic, but phrasal coordination may also result from reduction of coordinated sentences:

1.Bob entered the room and immediately the telephone rang. 2. They are living in Italy or they are spending a vacation there. 3. Jane might sing but I dont think she will. 4. John is ready and Mary is ready. 5. John and Mary are ready. 6 John sang and Mary danced. 7. John and Mary are the newly married couple. 8. Her pet kitten is black and white. 9. Our flag is red, yellow and blue. 10. His speech was coherent and understood by almost everybody.

Activity 3: Read the following examples and state whether they have undergone ellipsis or not:

My colleague failed, and I passed, our respective examinations. / Peter and John played football. / Bob and George are admired by their students. / Peter, but not John, plays football. / Joan plays many games, and even tennis. / John both composed the music and wrote the words.

Ellipsis can be of two types:

a) the so called forward ellipsis, when it operates on the second conjunct in the structure:

(10) a. John writes poetry and Bill writes prose.

(John scrie poezii si Bill scrie proza.)

b. John writes poetry and Bill prose.

(John scrie poezii si Bill proza.)

In (10a) the second conjunct has been wiped out, or deleted, as can be seen in (10b).

A deletion of the first conjunct would have been impossible in this case:

(10) c. *John poetry and Bill writes prose.

b) backward ellipsis when it operates on the first conjunct in the structure:

(11) a. John loves cigars and Bill hates cigars.

(Lui John ii plac trabucurile iar Bill le uraste.)

b. John loves and Bill hates cigars.

(Lui John ii plac iar Bill uraste trabucurile.)

c. * John loves cigars and Bill hates.

Example (11b) predicts the correct deletion of the first conjunct, whereas (11c) shows the ungrammaticality of a deletion of the first conjunct in this case.

Activity 4: Rewrite the following sentences by using ellipsis:1.The message was ambiguous and was difficult to comprehend. 2. A burglar must have broken in and he must have stolen the jewels. 3. Why did you give a gold watch to your secretary and why did you give a pair of gloves to your wife? 4. Bob may have been listening to music and he may have been humming the tune. 5. Bob seems to be trying hard to get along with Jane and John seems to be trying to get hard to get along with Susan. 6. Jane forced John to shave himself and Susan forced John to wash himself. 7. Father begged Susan to get married and mother begged Jane to get married. 8. Bob thought of his girlfriend and Tom dreamed of his girlfriend. 9. Yesterday large flags were flying and this morning small flags were flying. 10. We can demand payment and we will demand payment.

Besides ellipsis, substitution is another reduction operation that can be applied to compound sentences.

Consider the following:

(12) I was advised to buy a pair of shoes and I bought a pair of shoes.

(Am fost sfatuit sa cumpar o pereche de pantofi si am cumparat o pereche de pantofi.)

The common element, i.e. the predication buy a pair of shoes, can be reduced by substitution, as can be seen in

(13) I was advised to buy a pair of shoes and I did so/it.

(Am fost sfatuit sa imi cumpar o pereche de pantofi si asta am si facut.)

These two reduction methods can operate within compound sentences due to the fact that sometimes it is more economical to use a reduced structure, than a longer repetitive one. So, these syntactical processes, having to do with a change performed in the structure of a sentence, are in fact motivated by a pragmatic principle, the so-called Principle of Economy, that favours concision and efficiency in the use of language.

Activity 5: Match the following two columns so as to obtain correct elliptical phrases:

this book

and Johns

her son

and his

your work

and the other

her idea

and those

that method

and others

your proposal

or little

many guests

or few

much satisfaction

and mine

Note that the following idioms are built on the same principle as the phrases above: one way or another, some reason or another, one or (the) other method.

Activity 6: In certain cases, ellipsis may be a fruitful source of ambiguity, since one may interpret the compound noun phrase or sentence in question as having undergone ellipsis or not. Consider the following phrases and find as many possible interpretations for them as you can:

(a) the old men and women

(b) simple books and magazines for children

(c) George and Jane are separated.

(d) George and Jane went back to their parents.

Activity 7: Translate the following sentences, using reduced structures:1.S-a rastit la el si l-a palmuit. 2. Prefer propozitiile de mai jos ori de pe pagina urmatoare. 3. A citit, interpretat si tradus opera contemporanului sau. 4. Ii plac si are grija de toate pisicile vagaboande de langa bloc. 5. Intotdeauna am luptat si voi lupta pentru progres. 6. Daca si cand se hotaraste sa plece in Noua Zeelanda este o problema mai veche. 7.Psiholingvistica si sociolingvistica sunt materii importante. 8. I-a invitat de ziua lui pe gineri si pe nurori.

Activity 8: Some idiomatic phrases are in fact compound phrases, like: salt and pepper, fish and chips, sweet and sour, Marks and Spencers. Fill the gaps in these sentences with suitable expressions from the list below:

1.I searched .. for my wallet. 2. Can we discuss the .. of your proposals later on? 3. Can you show me the to support your argument? 4. Shes a wonderful storyteller: always the of the party. 5. They get on quite well together, even though they have their little .. 6.You gain some things and you lose others; its a case of 7. The police are responsible for maintaining . 8. Ive tidied up my room and now its 9. It was whether the rescuers would get there in time. 10 Theyve shared a lot of experiences: theyve been through together. 11. You cant claim on insurance for , only for damage. 12. I need another 100$ .. the amount Ive already saved up. 13. Nuclear physicists who are also best-selling writers are .. 14. A pendulum swings .. 15. He makes a little money out of writing but teaching is his . . 16. After all their adventures, they reached home.

bread and butter / facts and figures / few and far between / high and low / law and order / life and soul / over and above / pros and cons / safe and sound / spick and span/ swings and roundabouts / thick and thin / to and fro / touch and go / ups and downs / wear and tear.

3.4. Coordinating Conjunctions

We can distinguish between three classes of coordinators:

a) Copulative: and / both and /at once and / neither nor / as well as / no less than / not only but also, etc. We should also mention here rarer copulative coordinators, such as: alike and / nor nor / nor or :

(14) His job is at once judicial and political

(Slujba lui este si juridica si politica.)

(15) She went to sleep alike thankless and remorseless.

(A plecat la culcare si nerecunoscatoare si lipsita de remuscari.)

(16) Nor sun, nor wind will strike to kiss thee.

(Nici soare si nici vint nu te-or atinge cu vreun sarut.)

There are, of course, semantic restrictions on the types of clauses that can be coordinated. For instance, one cannot couple two sentences with completely different semantic content, as in:

(17) a. *Lions are mammals and Tom bought a car.

b. *I hate plumbers and you learn syntax.

In fact, the expressive function of coordination is, more often than not, to emphasize (semantic) parallelism or contrast, which is the case with

b) adversative coordinators: but, and

(18) I gave her the money but I didnt feel happy about it.

(I-am dat banii, dar nu am fost multumit de asta.)

c) disjunctive coordinators: or, either or

(19) She can either have the money or she can have the clothes.

(Poate primi ori banii ori hainele.)

Some of the aforementioned coordinating conjunctions have correlatives (either or, both and , etc); some of them allow ellipsis of the subject (and, or ; sometimes but, too):

(20) a. I may see you tomorrow or (I) may phone later in the day.

(S-ar putea sa te vad miine sau sa iti telefonez mai incolo.)

b. He went to the safe and (he) took out the money.

(S-a dus la seif si a scos banii.)

c. I gave her the money but (I) didnt feel happy about it.

(I-am dat banii dar nu mi-a convenit de loc.)

In certain cases, the ellipsis of the subject is even required (see e.g. 20 (b)). If the coordinating conjunction links two subordinate clauses, where the subordinator is repeated, ellipsis of the subject is no longer accepted:

(21)* I didnt object to his proposal since it was very apropiate and since apealed to me.

Another property some of the coordinators above share is the fact that they can link more than two clauses:

(22) They both liked Susan and respected her, and cherished her.

(Ei o placeau pe Susan, o respectau si o indrageau.)

An important property shared by coordinating conjunctions has to do with the fact that sometimes, these coordinators can impose a subordinating shade of meaning upon the conjunctions, like in the example we discussed at the beginning of this section:

(3) Hit my wife, and youll die.

(O lovesti pe sotia mea si ai sa mori.)

In example three one can read a conditional meaning behind the lines. In this case, if we were to rewrite the example , we could not say something like:

(23) *Youll die, and hit my wife.

Whenever the coordinating conjunction adds a subordinating tinge of meaning to the conjuncts, the order of these conjuncts is fixed.

From this point of view, one can differentiate between

a) a symmetric use of coordinators where the order of the conjuncts is reversible:

(24) a. I like and admire her.

(Imi place si o admir.)

b. I admire and like her.

(O admir si imi place.)

b) an asymmetric use of coordinators where the order of the conjuncts is irreversible:

(25) a. I washed and ironed my pants.

(Mi-am spalat si calcat pantalonii.)

b.* I ironed and washed my pants.

Lets cast a swift glance at the asymmetric uses some conjunctions may have:

1. assymetric AND can impose different shades of subordinative meaning within the compound sentence:

chronological sequence (temporal implications)

(26) He sliced and fried the potatoes. (First he sliced them and then he fried them)

(A taiat cartofii si i-a prajit.)

cause-effect relation

(27) He heard an explosion and (therefore) phoned the police.

(A auzit o explozie si a sunat la politie.)

(28) He didnt pay the rent and he was evicted from their apartment. (